We have been back home in Texas for a bit over a week now after sailing aboard the MSC Seashore. Nicholas and I are slowly getting our bearings back. The needing a vacation after the vacation is a real thing as I still cannot get a good nights sleep just yet.
I have written about the awesome Deluxe Balcony room and our day trip at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve. While both those things were highlights, there were some things that could use some improvement with MSC Cruises.
Here is my list of issues experienced with sailing aboard MSC Seashore:
1. Customer service lines.the long lines began on the fifth deck as soon as we boarded the ship. The wait to get wristbands was way longer than it should have been. This was due to a few things. There were only two agents working the two counters. One counter was to issue wristbands, while the other line activated them.
This was very counterproductive. We queued up for an extended period of time, only to be queued up again to complete the process. I felt MSC could have done a better job identifying the customer service lines. While we were in the WiFi/wristband line, other passengers needed to be in line for the customer service desk back near the bar. It was only after talking amongst ourselves that we started to figure it out.
2. Bar Lines.
The long wait to grab a beer started as soon as we boarded the ship. I wanted to grab a beer before going to the room but there were only three bartenders serving 40-50. The fact that they were making every order fresh did not help with the time. On my cruise last summer aboard MSC Seaside, there was a waiter who would pass through the fifth level bar to take orders from seated guests. This was no longer.
The lines at 18th deck pool were way longer than the lower bars. The pool was packed for the Sail Away Party. There was dancing, sun, and a whole lot of fun. I counted about 14 different lines with four or five people in each one. It took no less than 45 minutes each time I went to get a drink.
The same can be said about the bars on Ocean Cay. The lines were backed up and there were two bartenders trying to take all the orders. They were swamped.
3. Ocean Cay Wait Service. When I came to the island last year, there was about 10 of us in a cabana. We did not have to go to the bar because there were numerous wait staff roaming the beach to take orders. On this trip, that was not the case. EVERYONE converged on the handful of bars and caused a significant backlog.
Here is video proof of the wait service last summer:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLjnR5Re/
As compared to our own service last week.
4. Mini Bar. The mini bar was locked the first and last nights of the cruise. I did not understand why it would happen on the first but could kind of understand the last night. The last night could have been because of turnover the next day for new passengers. While I did not get anything from the mini bar, I found it strange that it would be locked for two of the four nights.
5. Room Service. Room service, much like the mini bar, was hit or miss. I called directly to room service on the first night. The order was placed and I even received a call back because they were out of an item. The next three nights were room “serviceless”. I tried to call to order sandwiches on multiple occasions and the line just rang. There was even times when someone picked up the receiver and hung it up.
6. Specialty Restaurant Kid’s Menu. I booked four speciality restaurants for our cruise. They were all well enough (I will have a separate post about them soon). The issue with booking the restaurants was that I could add my son as an adult so he could receive the same dinner options as my mom, stepdad, and I. The kid menu options were limited or too small of a portion so I ended up paying extra, on top of the kid menu price, for additional food for my son. If I could have purchased adult meals for him at the onset, I believe this would have been a none issue.
7. Toilet Repair. The toilet started giving us fits on the second day. I called to customer service and the technician was there within 15 minutes. This was greatly appreciated but the issue only got worse from there. Not only was the toilet backed up the second day, it remained this way for the next two days.
At one point during the last night, I could not get anyone to come to my room for five hours. The technician came a few hours prior to disembarking, knocked on the door, opened a drained valve from outside the cabin, and left. There was no need to knock on the door at 4am if they were doing everything from outside of the room.
8. Rushed “Checkout”. We returned to Port Canaveral early in the morning on Thursday. I am sure it was a bit after the maintenance guy came by the room. At 7am, the porter working our floor came knocking asking us to leave the room. When I told him that 1) we are scheduled to disembark later and 2) our car service would not arrive until some hours later, he stated we needed to leave the room anyway.
I get they were trying to turn the ship for a departure later in the day but my son was still asleep as he was exhausted from the five days of traveling. the same guy came by 20 minutes later and said that we had to leave at that very moment. I told him we were not leaving until my son had some more rest.
At 8am, the boss of the porter came by to force us out of the room. I, again, asked about the rush as my son was still asleep. Tired of the three knocks within an hour, I prepped our bags, woke Nicholas, and left the room…only to sit in the Marketplace buffet with a few hundred of my closest friends who had experienced the same fate.
Final Word
I hope these issues did not come off as me whining because that was not the intention. The point of this post is to highlight areas where MSC Cruises services have fallen off within the past year.
MSC Cruises could have done a better job staffing the ship. I understand cost savings to maximize profit but customer experience has to come into play at some point. While these issues were irritating, they did not stop me from having an overall positive experience on the cruise.
